Dec 22nd to 24th - Naples FL

Dec 22nd - Mon - Naples
We got going earlier today and went to pick up Billy, Lori and their bicycles for a ride today. We drove to the Shark ? visitor center in the Everglades National Park, a couple of hours from Billy & Lori’s park. Along Hwy 41 where it runs east/west on the northern edge of the Everglades, there are waterways with clear water, alligators and birds. Very pretty.
Our ride was a 15 mile loop on a paved road that is also used for tourist tram tours. Bicyclists ride the opposite direction from the trams so you have plenty of time to pull over and stop when the tram comes by.
We saw LOTS of alligators on the sides of the road. Some even slept with their tails on the road. Also saw one coiled snake and many birds. In the middle of the loop there is an observation tower accessed by a large curved ramp. We ate our lunch there, took some pictures and headed back - into the wind! Billy & Lori have single speed bikes so Lori struggled a bit but we were in no hurry and finished the ride with no problems. We stopped at an interesting (rustic décor!) establishment for a nice cold beer and took Hwy 75 back to shorten the drive time a bit.
We had a quick drink with Billy & Lori while I helped them with a couple of computer questions and finally headed home to rescue our Dolly from a long day in the rig.

Dec 23rd - Tues - Naples
Puttered around checking more things off my list this morning and discussed having some friends over for drinks and appies tomorrow with the usual vague response from Terry. When we went for a walk to take out the garbage we stopped to talk to a couple down the street (Colin & Linda) who are from Alberta. Really enjoyed chatting with them so I impulsively asked them over for tomorrow and got the ball rolling. A couple of phone calls and visits to 2 neighbors to round out our guest list.
Colin & Linda stopped to say they probably would not be able to come tomorrow after all and we ended up in our rig (with sewing machine, ironing board, etc all over) talking about air cards, satellite systems and who knows what else.
Next a trip to a grocery store to try to find the candy coating to make covered pretzels since the package I had would not melt properly - must have been sitting around too long. Of course the store we picked did not have it but by the time we finished there I just wanted to get back and have something to eat since we had skipped lunch. Made use of the great barbeque light again!

Dec 24th - Wed - Naples
Terry checked our bank info this morning and got a bit of a surprise that really got him wound up. Three CDs had disappeared from our balance screen. One CD had matured on Sunday and we had sent instructions to our personal banker so expected it might not show up right away but the other 2 should have been there. Anyone who knows Terry very well will know that he went into “pacing mode”. Of course, with the time difference we couldn’t do anything right away. We sent an email to our personal banker and got a message back that it could not be delivered! (add a bike ride to the pacing!) Meanwhile, I am baking shortbread cookies and getting other things ready for our little get-together. I even sent Terry to WalMart on a successful search for pretzel coating. Finally got through to an online banking tech and it took him about 30 seconds to make all 3 CDs show up on our screen.
Terry did some running around with our neighbor Ray while I finished up my baking & prep. About 4:30, our neighbors Paul & Lorraine (from Ontario) joined us for a drink before they had to leave for dinner. They had to leave shortly after meeting everyone else - Ray & Claire, Billy & Lori and Gary & Carie. The weather was great for staying outside, a few no-seeums and mosquitoes, and we had a great time. Colin & Linda were able to join us later. They traveled a lot of the same places that we did this summer, including Newfoundland, so we have lots to talk about. They even stayed in the same park, at the same time, as we did in Ft. Lauderdale. Such a small world!